Vista Remote Desktop from a mac

July 19, 2007 10:07 PM

I am using using the Windows Remote Desktop Client(1.03) on my mac (OS X 10.4.10 PPC G4) to connect to an iMac running Vista Business and am having some trouble. It freezes up but in time it will regain a connection. I have had the same problem when connection form other macs. Any clues... Thanks in advance.
posted by shawnzam to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Are the two seperated by some type of residential-grade router (linksys, netgear, dlink, et al)? I've seen many high speed remote desktop apps cause those things to reboot ad nauseum. For instance I cannot VNC between home and work and do anything that involves fast-moving screens because the connection will eventually drop. Reducing the server's desktop size and/or the color palette of the remote desktop app itself seems to help.
posted by datacenter refugee at 10:31 PM on July 19, 2007

You could try using CORD. It's an opensource RDC that may perform slightly better than the one by micro$oft. Just install and connect as you normally do.
posted by jammnrose at 11:30 PM on July 19, 2007

I don't really understand your problem. Are you getting a connection or not? When does the freeze happen? After you gain a connection?

If you haven't already, you need to set the Vista machine to accept connections from older renditions of Windows RDC.

See my answer in this thread.
posted by humblepigeon at 1:23 AM on July 20, 2007

Seconding CORD. I've never looked back.
posted by purephase at 5:26 AM on July 20, 2007

Is your mac using wireless or wired? This could be related to having a not-so-great wireless connection. When doing email and web you may never notice some lost packets or long delays, but when youre doing stuff like rdp or vnc, it becomes a bit more obvious. If it is wireless, switch over to wired and see if it performs better.
posted by damn dirty ape at 7:00 AM on July 20, 2007

CoRD looks slick, but does it support connecting to Vista?

The site doesn't include it in it's supported OS list:
"Windows 2000, XP Pro, or Server 2003 using the built-in remote support (also known as Terminal Services)"
posted by escapist at 8:35 PM on August 26, 2007